December 20, 2006
FCC's e-911 Decision Upheld
Jeff Pulver writes that the DC Circuit Court has upheld the US FCC's decision to require VoIP service providers to offer e-911 emergency calling services. Providers have 120 days to comply, though it's not clear from what date. The presiding Judge Kavanaugh indicated that the requirement is justified even if providers cannot meet the deadline.
The FCC also wants to ban the marketing and sale of any VoIP service that cannot make the deadline. However, the legality of this ban was apparently not ruled upon (other than the Judge saying that the FCC had the "lesser authority" to go ahead with it.
Curiouser and curiouser. If the FCC does go ahead with its ban, this could really tank most soft client-based VoIP providers. They will, I think, have the greatest technical hurdles in offering functioning e-911 service. This could be the leg up that pure play VoIP providers like Vonage need to compete against other types of providers. Vonage already has a growing coverage area for their e-911 service, outdistancing every soft provider I can think of.
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